Two-Face Part I
| season = 1 | number = 17 | image = File:Two-Face Part I Title Card.jpg | imagewidth = 250 | airdate = 25 September, 1992 | director = Kevin Altieri | writer = | story = Alan Burnett | teleplay = Randy Rogel | music = Shirley Walker | previous1 = Eternal Youth | next1 = Two-Face Part II | previous2 = Be a Clown | next2 = Two-Face Part II }} Two-Face Part I is an episode of the first season of Batman: The Animated Series. The episode portrays the origin story of the villain Two-Face and it also marks the first appearance of characters as Grace Lamont, Nora Crest and Candice. This episode was also the first produced episode to include the iconic villain Rupert Thorne. Two-Face, Part I is the tenth episode to be produced and the 17th episode to be aired. Synopsis Though the ever calm Harvey Dent puts on a happy face in his bid for re-election as Gotham's District Attorney, he can't still supress the psychopatic split personality of "Big Bad Harv" - a side that's given horrifying half form when crime boss Rupert Thorne's plan to blackmail Dent goes awry in a chemical factory. Plot Harvey Dent has a nightmare in which he is confronted by a mysterious doppelganger, flipping a coin over and over again. Just before Dent wakes up, the figure assures him: "It's time, Harvey... it's time!". Dent awakens in his office, aroused by his secretary Carlos from the D.A.'s office, and heads out to meet with Commissioner Gordon for a raid on a derelict building being held by Rupert Thorne's gang, heavily defended with stolen weapons and supplies from Gotham's Army depots. With Batman's help, the gang is captured. In front of news reporters, Dent publicly congratulates the police and thanks Gordon. But just then, one of the captured crooks taunts Dent with the assurance that he and his cohorts will soon be free, and kicks a puddle of mud, splattering it on Dent's suit. To everyone's shock, Dent goes berserk with fury and attacks the handcuffed man, and has to be pulled off him. A second later, Dent inexplicably reverts back to his amiable, courteous self, with seemingly with no memory of the fit of rage. Despite having seen the direct cause of the attack, Gordon asked what that was about and Dent says "I don't know. I guess he just hit the right button." Gordon mutters "That's one heck of a button." Meanwhile, Thorne is gritting his teeth, as Dent's actions have crippled his interests in Gotham. He commands his mole Candice, to find something dirty about Dent's past, despite his apparently spotless record that could be used in his favor. A short time later at a campaign party to raise funds for his election as Gothams' District Attorney, Dent has another violent outburst in public when he is told that Thorne's men have been released due to an incomplete warrant. Bruce Wayne is nearby and tries to calm him, but Dent shouts him away, and is prepared to attack him, only calmed by the intervention of his fiancé, Grace Lamont. Concerned, Bruce advises him to seek psychiatric help. Dent is reluctant to appear vulnerable during his reelection campaign, but agrees. Under hypnosis with Dr. Nora Crest, while Candice eavesdrops, an alternate personality known as "Big Bad Harv" surfaces. "Harv" is resentful of Dent and produces a coin which he compulsively flips. Dr. Crest tries to reason with Harv, but he refuses to let Dent take over completely. After Dr. Crest is nearly thrown from the window, she snaps her fingers. Dent resurfaces, and is immediately shaken by "Big Bad Harvs" actions, stating that he used to be able to repress him before. Nora suggests Dent admit himself to a psychiatric hospital for a few days, but Dent refused saying that it'd destroy his campaign entirely, shakily Dent agrees to the continued (but secret) therapy sessions during the reelection campaign along with letting up on the aggression of it to keep his emotions in-check. Later at a campaign party, it is revealed that Dent is about to receive a landslide victory in the re-election; and that Harvey decides to celebrate this by proposing to Grace and selecting a wedding date later that evening as part of his acceptance speech to DA. Dent receives a call from Thorne, who summons him to a meeting, or else "Big Bad Harv" will be exposed; completely demolishing Harvey's career. Noticing Dent's strange behavior, Bruce changes into Batman and follows him. At an abandoned chemical plant, Thorne and his gang confront Dent, having found records from his childhood that show that after he fought back against a bully; the boy was later hospitalized (for appendicitis, not injuries, but young Dent didn't know that). Dent repressed his anger so completely that it has built up over the years, until it has become a whole other personality. Thorne threatens to expose an increasingly agitated Dent unless he complies with Thorne's agenda. Suddenly calm, Dent smiles and says: "You're talking to the wrong Harvey." Now it is Big Bad Harv who rises and attacks Thorne and his accomplices, wiping out the gang with the reluctant aid of Batman. Thorne grabs the psychiatric file and runs out of the office through the plant, and Dent chases him. One of Thorne's thugs opens fire with a tommy gun, and Batman knocks his aim off. A stray bullet hits an electrical switchboard, and a live cable falls into a vat of chemicals, which blow up under the catwalk where Dent has fallen face-down, the explosion tears through the catwalk and catching him right in the face. As Batman attends to his fallen friend, he recoils in horror at the damage wrought. Dent is rushed to a hospital. The doctor removes his bandages, confessing that there will be some scarring. But when the bandages are gone, the doctor and nurse back away in horror. Dent demands to see a mirror. Grace walks down the hall to Dent's room carrying flowers, then hears a horrible scream and sees Dent bolt from his room, clutching his face. Grace asks him what happened. He turns, revealing that one side of his body has been scarred by the chemicals, making him seem half-human, half-monster. She faints dead away. Dent, muttering a rueful farewell, disappears through the hospital's window. Cast ---- Category:Episodes Category:Season 1 Category:Rupert Thorne Episodes Category:Multiple Villains Episodes Category:Two-Face Episodes Category:Directed by Kevin Altieri Category:Written by Alan Burnett Category:Soundtrack by Shirley Walker Category:Animation by Tokyo Movie Shinsha Co., LTD. Category:Character Origins